Chemokines are a subclass of cytokines which cause the directed migration or chemotaxis of particular cell populations either to or away from higher concentrations of the chemokine. Many chemokines have been identified which cause migration of major blood cell populations. These factors may be useful for directing the migration of cell populations to areas of desired action or away from areas of unwanted action. It would, therefore, be desirable to identify new chemokines and polynucleotides encoding them.
Applicants' U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,829 and published international patent application WO97/07198 disclose a novel murine chemokine identified as "L105." Murine L105 has been demonstrated to have chemokinetic/chemoattractant activity for several cell types, including thymocytes, kidney mesangial cells and lymphocytes localized in lymph nodes. Because of these beneficial activities, it would be desirable to identify human homologues of murine L105.